What's a But For?
The Los
Angeles Times leads with a story on everybody's front: "A divided [UN]
Security Council voted today to create a new arms inspection system for Iraq
with the promise to President Saddam Hussein that sanctions against his country
[imposed after the 1991 Gulf war] could be suspended within a year and
eventually lifted if he cooperates," as the New York Times puts it. All three papers note Iraq
may never accept the plan. Both Times es state that experts suspect Iraq
has been restocking its supplies of prohibited weapons; the LAT lists these
as chemical and biological arms and components of atomic bombs. All papers
report that three (France, Russia, China) of the five permanent members of the
Council abstained from voting, which might weaken the council's position and
the possibility of Iraq's compliance; the U.S. and Britain were the two
permanent members that supported the measure. Except for the LAT story,
which explains Iraq said it would cancel diplomatic relations and oil contracts
with France if the French supported the resolution, there's not much on the
reason for the abstentions.
The Washington Post 's lead is local: The Beltway will soon get
uglier, as a federal appeals court resurrected plans to replace the
deteriorating Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge with a 12-lane one that should
alleviate congestion.
The NYT 's lead
is also local. Gov. George E. Pataki and bipartisan legislative leaders agreed
"to raise the state's cigarette tax by 55 cents a pack in an ambitious effort
to provide health care coverage for as many as one million uninsured New
Yorkers." The agreement is part of a larger plan, expected to cost $750 million
over the next three and a half years, to expand coverage. Passage of related
legislation, to be introduced possibly next week, is highly likely.
The focus of the WP 's front piece on yesterday's Gore-Bradley debate is
clear by its headline, "... Debate Centers on Health Care." The WP waits till about half-way through its piece before
indicating that the two Democratic hopefuls discussed anything else: It reports
that both agreed stricter gun control is needed, though Bradley claimed his
plan was more serious than Gore's. A NYT piece, reefered to on its front, and LAT front piece
touch on many more of the issues discussed. The WP gives the impression that the debate was heated. The
NYT , while noting
that Bradley showed "a new persistence and aggressiveness" and that health care
was a contentious issue, said the two candidates "agreed more than they
disagreed." The LAT similarly calls the debate "mostly ... decorous." Gore
thinks Bradley's health plan is too expensive; Bradley thinks Gore's won't
reach enough currently uninsured people. The LAT has the
most detail on the education issue, reporting Gore accused Bradley of
insufficient commitment to federal action on education. None of the papers have
poll statistics related to how any of these issues rank on voters' list of
concerns.
A NYT front
piece says that the Environmental Protection Agency ordered 392 Southern and
Midwestern plants, mainly electricity-generating ones, to cut in half their
emissions of nitrous oxides that contribute to Eastern seaboard smog at the
request of Eastern states who asked for help meeting national smog standards.
The EPA estimates the order would raise the cost of electricity by one percent
but that costs to consumers are still expected to decline "because of
deregulation of the industry"; the NYT should be more clear about what the final relative cost
to consumers might be. Some executives and officials in the targeted states are
denouncing the mandate.
News that an Algerian man named Ahmed Ressam was seized at the Canadian
border because he was carrying bomb-making materials is on all three fronts.
The WP cites an anonymous law enforcement official in
making the claim that possible links between Ressam and anti-American militant
Osama bin Laden are being pursued, and quotes an anonymous Clinton
administration official, saying "this was not a run-of-the-mill operation ...
This was serious." The LAT also mentions the possible connection, though both
papers note a definite link to bin Laden has not been established. The NYT makes no mention of bin
Laden and credits an anonymous government official with the quote, "There's
nothing mysterious at all about what was in [Ressam's] car," though it also
says government officials are worried that the man could be part of an
international terrorist group. The NYT and the LAT say the State Department recently warned that it
had "credible information" about "terrorist attacks against American citizens
[timed] around the Jan. 1 millennium celebrations." The Post says 14 (the LAT says 13) of
bin Laden's associates were arrested this week for plotting such attacks.
The WP off-lead reports Clinton is "strongly considering making
a request for government reimbursement of" most or all of the $5 million the
Clintons owe in unpaid legal bills associated with the Whitewater and Monica
investigations--which have already cost the public $47 million. To be
reimbursed, Clinton's lawyers would have to prove that he would not have needed
a lawyer "but for the independent counsel statute." This is the so-called "but
for" clause. So if Clinton can show he wouldn't have been prosecuted by a
regular prosecutor, he'll get the money.
